A/N: Hi! I am so sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I wasn't really sure how to write it, and then I had so many things to do that I did not have much time to work on it. I hope you guys like it, please review so I can know what you guys think! I love every one of you for giving up your time to read this, and I hope to get chapter four written and posted by next Friday.
Miku waited one second, two. Then there was a shuffling sound. A lock clicking open. And then she was staring at the most beautiful guy she had ever seen. Wow, she thought. Just… wow. There was an awkward pause and then the prince cleared his throat.
"Um, may I help you?" he asked, not unkindly. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment when she realized she had been caught staring. It is not my fault, she thought to herself in defense. I mean they should have told me that the pictures did not do him justice. And they didn't. His dark blue hair mussed up in a sexy way, his crooked half smile giving him a dimple, perfectly tan skin… he was a god. A tall, sexy, tight-shirt-that-shows-his-defined-muscles wearing, prince. She stopped herself from swooning.
"Your Majesty, I'm Miku and I am your personal servant this week." She squeaked out the words, then she cleared her throat and repeated herself only louder this time.
"Hi Miku," he said warmly and then he gestured for her to enter his chambers. "Come inside. I am pleased to meet you." Then in a gentlemanly gesture that she did not see coming he bent down and brought her hand to his lips. Gently he placed a kiss on the back of her pale hand and then smiled a small shy smile before he straightened again and walked inside the doors. She followed.
The room was less of a room than an entire floor of the castle. Once inside he showed her the sitting room, music room, bathroom, closet (which was twice as big as her old bedroom had been before she moved to the castle for work), and the tour ended inside his bedroom. She looked around and was surprised by the modest furnishings and simple elegance of the room. Along the northern wall was a large wooden bed, elegantly simple. Modest decorations littered his desk, and on his wall were pictures of his mother, father, and him. The walls were a tasteful cream color that managed to catch the light and make the room look big and airy in the day, and then capture the shadows and make the room seem cozier at night. She knew this from when her mother turned their house into a boarding home. She had walked through the paint store and helped her mother pick out this very shade for the bedrooms in the house. The memory gave her a stab of pain and she fought the tears that began welling in her eyes. Her mother, her sweet mother who she had left to try and help earn more money. The one person who had always been there. The one who had always been protective of her. The one she had failed to protect when their world came crashing down around them. Her knees buckled and she started to fall forward but careful hands grabbed her and kept her upright.
"Are you alright?" Prince Kaito's eyes were filled with worry. "I can get the doctor if you want."
"No your highness I am fine, just dizzy that is all." She waved away his offer and stood up ready to work. "What would you like for me to do? I am completely in your service." She looked at him expectantly.
"Well actually I am not quite sure. This is the first time I have had a personal servant before. And please do not say 'your majesty' or 'your highness'. Just call me Kaito as if we were old friends." She raised her eyebrows when he said that she was his first servant in surprise. Why was there a need for one now?
Noticing her look of disbelief he continued on.
"It's true, I swear. My father said that I should start having a personal servant so he asked for the job to be given to the top servant. He told me it was necessary to have someone to take care of my greatest needs and wants at the moment." To his credit he blushed and she could see the rest of what the conversation had been about. Nervous panic built in her stomach. The king had a reputation for taking home beautiful women after galas and balls and what not. Who knows how many awkward mornings the prince had suffered through, entertaining a stranger with polite small talk over breakfast when his own mother, the kind Queen Teto, died two years ago from contracting the green fever during a business trip to the Green Country.
Clearing his throat, the prince grabbed her hand and started to walk out of the door.
"Come, let us talk in the parlor. I really have no use for a personal servant…" He looked at her for a moment and then continued walking. "But I sure could use a friend." Offering a small smile, he led her to the parlor and they sat down. "So tell me, how did you end up as a servant here?" He sounded genuinely curious and she thought about lying for a moment, but then decided that there was really no point.
"My father left my mother and me when I was twelve," she began. "He was greedy, and he did not leave a penny to our names. My mother was worried but she was not going to give up and send me to an orphanage so I got a job repairing clothes for some of the rich townspeople. My mother converted our house into a boarding house, and I helped run the place with her. We renovated whatever we could to attract business-we would have starved otherwise-but there was not much money to use on renovations so we really just ended up painting the house a different color inside. It is actually the same shade of cream as your bedroom walls.
"Despite having to work and being abandoned by my father and basically everything in my life going wrong, it was the happiest my mom and I had ever been. We no longer had my dad to deal with, and we made some close friends through the new business. There were not always enough rooms for everyone and for a while I ended up sleeping on the floor of my old room while two adorable six year old kids who moved in with their families slept in the bed, but I was happy and that was all that mattered. And I didn't really mind letting the two kids have the bed. They became the best of friends and looked up to me as an older sister. We were almost family and I was sort of like their main role model because they were often ignored by their parents. And sometimes I cannot believe how much I miss them." Her eyes were shining with tears at the memories she had hidden for so long.
She had almost forgotten the prince was still there until he started talking. "What happened to the kids and your mom? What happened to lead you here when you were so content to stay like that?" He sounded almost sad, like he actually cared about what had occurred to wrench her out the happy life she had made with her mother. Sighing, she continued.
"Somebody stole from us. Almost all of our savings were gone. And then taxes were raised. We didn't know what to do. We tried raising the rent but then we lost some of our clientele. By the time winter arrived we didn't have enough money to keep the heat running. And we lost even more business. Soon there was only about twenty guests left, and before the robbery we had almost reached sixty. We had a big house," she shrugged while saying the last part because he had an astonished look on his face. "My mother decided to go to the Green Country and ask for some help financially from her cousin, they had been awfully close. But she contracted the green fever while there and died." Miku's eyes filled with ears and she had to stop and swallow. She took a deep breath, and then another. Finally she continued. "My mother's cousin, her name is Meiko, she agreed to come and help me with the house. She was willing to help with money and soon the house was bustling with activity. But I had become depressed. Nothing made me happy anymore, not even being with Len and Rin- the two little kids I shared a room with. Finally Cousin Meiko pulled me aside and told me that she was worried that I was going to bury myself so deep in my guilt that I would never be able to escape it again, and that what was even worse was her money was starting to run out. She was getting a profit from the house but the expenses were draining away any profits she made. I needed to get a job and so I applied for a servant job here. And, well you can see where I am now." She looked at him and saw true pain on his beautiful face from what she had told him.
"Do most of the servants here have similar stories? I cannot believe that, here I am living an overall good life, and the people working for me are suffering. I am so sorry." He looked like he was guilty, and she suddenly needed to talk about something, anything, different.
"Yes, many of the servants are like me. They are young girls and they have had hard lives. But we are not suffering. We are treated well and paid fairly, and we support each other. I have been working here for three years and if I had not come here then I could be permanently depressed, maybe even dead, and I never would have met my two best friends, Luka and Gumi. By the way Gumi will hate me for telling you this, but she is absolutely in love with you." He laughed and the mood became lighter. They talked for another hour or so, and then Kaito asked her if she wanted to come with him to see the garden.
"It is very beautiful this time of year, and it is too nice of a day to spend entirely inside. The orchids have just opened up…" he trailed off unsure. For a moment it was easy to think of him not as a prince, but a normal guy. This last thought relaxed her.
"I would love to see the garden Kaito. Shall we go now?"
He nodded and smiled. She felt herself smile as well and he gently tugged her off the couch and after him to see the garden. A whole week of this, she thought to herself and her smile grew wider. I hope it never ends.
